The species was encouraged to grow along the border with Norway after numbers fell to a low of 60 in 1999. Since then, their number have increased, and new births are expected to bring the species above the limit of 210 set by parliament.

The increased population risk damage to local dog-owners and reindeer and sheep farmers. But a local conservation society believes the population has yet to recover to a safe level, and has complained to the EU. Supporters originally hoped wolf numbers might reach 500.

The cull will run for over a month, or until the quota of 27 - updated hourly - is met. The creatures are most vulnerable when recent snow allows them to be tracked.

Afterposten, among others, is reporting that Keiko, the killer whale star of the 1993 hit movie Free Willy whose horrid living conditions at a Mexico City amusement park reinvigorated the movement for animal rights in the '90s, has died in a fjord off Norway.

Norway has bestowed one of its most prestigious military honours at a ceremony in Edinburgh - on a penguin. The king penguin, known as Nils Olav, has been promoted to the rank of honourable regimental sergeant major. The bird is the first to hold the rank in the Norwegian Army.

The New York Times
reports that Norway plans to kill most of the two dozen wolves
currently living in that country. The wolves have wandered over
from Sweden where they are being reintroduced.
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